U.S. Attorneys side with Gov. Stitt’s brother in traffic ticket jurisdiction dispute
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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A filing by U.S. attorneys agreed with arguments made by Governor Kevin Stitt’s brother, Keith Stitt, in his ongoing case challenging the State of Oklahoma’s jurisdiction to prosecute him for a traffic ticket he received on tribal land.
As first reported by NonDoc Thursday, U.S. Attorneys filed a brief on Tuesday arguing the State of Oklahoma does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Keith Stitt for a traffic ticket he received from Tulsa Police in 2022, because he is a tribal citizen.
Tulsa Police pulled over and cited Keith Stitt for speeding at within the boundaries of Muscogee Nation inside Tulsa City limits.
Keith Stitt is a citizen of Cherokee Nation.
Keith Stitt appealed the speeding ticket in 2022, arguing the City of Tulsa and State of Oklahoma didn’t have jurisdiction to prosecute him for the crime, since he is a tribal citizen and it happened on tribal land.
In the brief filed in the case for Keith Stitt’s ongoing appeal over the citation, U.S. attorneys agreed with Keith Stitt.
They wrote “the state of Oklahoma lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute this case,” citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt ruling, and decision in Hooper v. City of Tulsa, as setting precedents that only tribal authorities could prosecute tribal citizens for crimes committed the lands of several eastern Oklahoma tribes.
News 4 reached out to Governor Kevin Stitt to get his thoughts on U.S. Attorneys’ filing.
Gov. Stitt seemed to make the exact opposite argument of his brother in the following statement he sent News 4:
“Public safety is at stake here. The Tulsa Police need to be able to enforce the laws and keep their communities safe. Having no closure after the Hooper case, communities in eastern Oklahoma need assurance that there is one set of rules, regardless of race or heritage. The City of Tulsa is right. Their opposition is not. And maybe Keith shouldn’t speed.”
Governor Kevin Stitt
“It’s ironic that the governor’s brother’s bringing this given that Governor Stitt has been so adamant about Indian authority and tribal authority and against it being extended,” said Tim Gilpin, a Tulsa-based attorney and former Assistant Oklahoma Attorney General.
Gilpin believes there may be more at play than what seems on the surface to be two brothers taking opposite sides in an argument.
“So it’s either ironic or it’s a good idea to yet again put this in our face that there’s an issue and a problem going on,” Gilpin said. “How do we handle criminal and municipal issues given that we’re still in Indian territory?”
Gilpin said this case and the other ongoing disputes surrounding tribal and state jurisdiction could have already been solved, if all parties would come to the table and work with each other.
Dispute over criminal jurisdiction flares in Oklahoma between tribal police, jailers
“What this is illustrating to all of us is that the state and the cities need to sit down with the tribes and get over themselves and come up with a compact or an agreement as to how we’re all going to handle this,” Gilpin said. “Because this US Supreme Court is not going to change their mind.”
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